President Obama claimed that Republican rival Mitt Romney “is asking” 125 American families to shell out $2,000 annually just so that he can give himself a tax cut.

“Mr. Romney is asking you to pay more so that people like him get a tax cut,” Obama said in Akron, Ohio, today. “In order to afford just a tax cut for somebody like Mr. Romney, 125 families like yours would have to pay another $2,000 in taxes each year — and every year.  Not just one year, every year.”

Obama put those words in Romney’s mouth based on an “independent” study of Romney’s proposals. “This wasn’t me, it wasn’t my team,” the president said, failing to note that one of the authors used to work as one of his economic advisers. “One of the guys who did the analysis used to work for Bush,” he did observe.

Romney’s team countered that the study only accounts for “half” of Romney’s proposals.  “This is just another biased study from a former Obama staffer that ignores critical parts of Governor Romney’s tax reform program, which will help the middle class and promote faster economic growth,”  said Romney policy director Lanhee Chen. “President Obama is doubling down on [his] failed policies by pushing for $2 trillion in tax increases on working Americans and job creators.”